Thursday, May 8, 2008

Your home page is just the starting point for what will probably be a very multi-layered and multifaceted website. As such, it is important to look at every page your site contains to ensure a cohesive, streamlined design that works well with search engines as well as customers. Keep the following in mind:

• Use text-based navigation.

• If you use graphic navigation, use descriptive alt text for your image links, and link to your primary pages from every page of your site using footer text links. • Use descriptive/keyword-rich breadcrumb navigation to help search engines understand the structure of your site. e.g., home page link(use keywords in it) > level 1 > level 2 > page I am on

• Use a site map to help search engines spider through your site.

• Whenever possible, use descriptive text when linking between pages of your site.

• Link to other resources that improve your user’s experience. If you reference research and trusted sources within your content, readers will think of your content as information, rather than simply being sales-oriented.

• Deep link to related articles and content from within the active content section of your page copy.

• If you want your site to convert, assume many site visitors will ignore the global navigation. Actively guide people toward conversion from within the active content area of your website. This website, http://www.AndyHagans.com, does an excellent job of this.

• Use CSS to improve the look and feel of your pages. Put it in an external file.